ICT D1

D1 - Describe and evaluate the on-going developments in these printing/output techniques

Laser printing for leaflets and Flyers

This process uses an electrostatic printing process that produces texts and graphics by smoothly wiping a laser beam over a drum to produce a differently charged image. These printers use colour toner, this is dry ink and they use the colours CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black).

Vinyl cutter and laser cutters for signage

To make signage, vinyl and laser cutters are mostly used. The main types of signage are usually used for business purposes, e.g. Images on company vans. One company that uses the vehicle wrapping process are SKY, they have images wrapped around their vans, and this makes them look appealing and advertises the company. To make vinyl prints, companies use to have to use lots of materials, now that these machines have been updated they all use the same material making it more efficient and making it an easier process.

Inkjet and wide format printing for bitmap displays and posters

Wide format printing is usually used for bitmap displays, the main printings are usually general signage, banners and posters. They use a roll of print material because if they were to use individual sheets they could stick to each other which would affect the images quality. Bitmap images can become pixelated when enlarged; this could be a problem when using a wide format printer. One programme that is good for bitmaps is Photoshop because images can be manipulated and changed due to the user’s needs.They image resolution for a good quality image would be 72PPI.

3D Printing

3D printing is a manufacturing process that builds layers to create a three-dimensional solid object from a digital model.

To print a 3-D object, the manufacturer uses a 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) program to create a digital model that gets sliced into very thin cross-sections called layers. During the print process the 3-D printer starts at the bottom of the design and builds up successive layers of material until the object is finished. There are lots of different software programmes that can be used for 3D printing. One example is Google sketch up; this programme allows users to create 3D drawings.